


now we are coming home (hear them howling)

by wolfwithpanthereyes



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Established Relationship, F/F, Short & Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-17
Updated: 2020-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:54:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23179552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfwithpanthereyes/pseuds/wolfwithpanthereyes
Summary: “Aren’t you glad for me? I’m nearly there! I can nearly control it!” Cosette's fingers curl as if she’s imagining them into claws, and Éponine gives a start, the bandages slipping from her hands.
Relationships: Cosette Fauchelevent/Éponine Thénardier
Comments: 1
Kudos: 19





	now we are coming home (hear them howling)

**Author's Note:**

> another little something from the vault of my google documents, this time with werewolf!Cosette.
> 
> title is from Hear Them Calling by Greta Salóme.

Even as she sits there with dark shadows under her eyes and her tattered nightgown only just clinging to her, Cosette likes to pretend there’s nothing wrong. 

“I’ve nearly got the shift figured out,” she tells her, her voice rough and raw as Éponine tends to the gashes on the palms of her hands. And yet there’s still a brightness there, an optimism that never seems to fade, and sometimes Éponine has to struggle to reconcile the young woman with the tired smile sitting beside her with the scrawny girl in rags she knew as a child. 

“You’re not listening.” Cosette chides her with a nudge of her shoulder against Éponine’s. “Aren’t you glad for me? I’m nearly there! I can nearly control it!” Her fingers curl as if she’s imagining them into claws, and Éponine gives a start, the bandages slipping from her hands. 

“Don’t do that!”

“Do what?” Cosette grins at her with a wrinkle of her nose, playing the innocent as she taps the tips of her fingers against Éponine’s knee. “Look, they’re fine. Not even a little sharp.”

Éponine scowls at her and snatches up the bandage, grasping Cosette’s wrist and tugging her hand onto her lap to hold her still. “Last time you did that, you ended up shredding the pillow.”

“I’ve been practicing.” At least Cosette has the decency to look a little ashamed of herself at the memory, and that’s without mentioning that the pillow had been the distraction that allowed Éponine to run from the room before the shift could complete itself. That pillow had saved her life.

Éponine trusts Cosette not to hurt her, but she doesn’t trust the wolf residing under Cosette’s skin. No matter how many times Cosette claims she’s gaining control. But Cosette is here now, and she’ll remain here until the moon rises again next month. Éponine can breathe easily until then.

“Keep practicing. Just not when I’m here.” Éponine fumbles for a pin, fixing the bandage into place. It’s not her best work and Cosette will have to struggle to grasp anything, but it will do for now.

“I wouldn’t hurt you,” Cosette murmurs, staring down at the floor. “I couldn’t hurt you. You’re…”

“I know, I know,” Éponine shushes her with a kiss on the cheek and an arm around her shoulders. Her heartbeat quickens, the way it used to around Marius, but this time each and every beat is for Cosette. To think, that after all these years this was how they would end up…

“I’ll control it better next month.” Cosette turns and cups Éponine’s chin with her hands, kissing her, and the roughness of the bandage against her cheek only heightens how soft Cosette’s lips are. Her heart beats faster, and she’s highly aware that Cosette is sensitive to the sound. Cosette heard the beating of Éponine’s heart first, before the rest of her enhanced hearing kicked in, and only recently has she began to respond to the sound with love rather than fear.

Because that’s who they are now. Cosette is no longer the child hiding under the staircase and peering at Éponine through wide eyes; she’s the woman who demanded Éponine be allowed to live with her, the woman who trusted her when Éponine believed herself untrustworthy. She’s the woman who ran after Éponine when she ran away and ended up taking on a werewolf to save her life. She believed in Éponine at a time when even Éponine didn’t believe in herself.

Cosette twists herself onto Éponine’s lap, kneeling on either side of her waist, and Éponine allows herself to fall back onto the mattress as Cosette kisses her throat, eyes glinting a faint gold in the light of the morning sun.

She’s the woman Éponine loves, and that’s enough. Even on the nights when the full moon rolls around.

Especially on the nights when the full moon rolls around.


End file.
